Haley sat cross-legged on her pink mat, gripping her stuffed animal tightly, her voice shaky as she spoke.

“So… he’s back. My ex. He’s staying at Alex’s place, and—and he says he wants me to go back to Zuzu City with him.”

“I love my life here—well, most of it—but Zuzu City… it was my dream once. He was my dream once.”

She stared down at the stuffed animal, her grip tightening as she went on.

“Alex said he’s just visiting, but why here? Why now? There’s no way this is just a coincidence…”

Haley’s grip on the stuffed animal tightened, as if it could somehow provide her the answers she needed.

She glanced at the stuffed animal in her hands, her face flushed. “And then there’s you… I don’t want to mess things up with… whatever this is between us.”

Her cheeks burned as she looked away, burying her face into the stuffed animal to hide the mix of emotions swirling inside her, her breath quick and shallow.